“The coating on Vicodin and Valium I’d been taking for years leaves a hole in your stomach,” explained Eminem. “So to avoid stomachache, I was constantly eating — and eating badly.”

“When I got out of rehab, I needed to lose weight, but I also needed to figure out a way to function sober,” the rapper told the magazine. “Unless I was blitzed out of my mind, I had trouble sleeping.”

The 42-year-old continued, “So I started running. It gave me a natural endorphin high, but it also helped me sleep, so it was perfect.”

Eminem — whose real name is Marshall Bruce Mathers III — admitted to having an “addict’s brain” and took the same obsessive approach to running, calling himself a “f—ing hamster.” The Detroit native clocked 17 miles a day on the treadmill and was “making sure I burned 2,000 [calories] every day.”

His dedication to weight loss caused him to drop to 149 pounds, but over time, the father of three tore his hip flexors, forcing him to hang up his sneakers.

“When I was starting to dial back on the treadmill, I tried some of these workout DVDs you do at home. One of the first ones was Shaun T’s Insanity workout,” said Eminem. “I know a lot of these DVD guys are wacky, but I’m alone in the gym; I need someone on the TV yelling to motivate me.”